Where does authority come from?

Just like with Foundations, authority comes from true knowledge.

You answer with shakiness if you are not certain. If you know the Earth is round, you do not hesitate to respond. You answer with confidence every time. “Of course it’s round.”

I believe that authority concerning God and his Word is the same way. Jesus displayed authority when he taught. He knows God intimately and ultimately. No one questioned Jesus’ answers after he spoke with authority. No one else was that confident in their question or answer.

If you have been in the Presence, you have seen God and have a measure of true knowledge of God. You don’t have to quote Scripture because you have something of more substance for you: experience.

Preachers who have not experienced the presence of God cannot have true authority in their teachings. They are quoting what someone else has seen or experienced. The Scriptures are to be a testimony as a reason to launch you into your own experience, not to rely on solely.

This is not to say that Scriptures are lacking in Truth or that they are somehow not for other purposes, like being useful for teaching and correcting. The point of Scripture is to get you to know the Author, not just memorize words or be familiar with the text to know where pieces of wisdom are.

It’s like the difference between reading Seth Godin’s blog and hanging out with him. You have much more authority on the subject of who he is and what he is like after you have spent time with him. It is the same way with God. You have much more authority to say what God is like and what he desires if you have spent time with him instead of only having read the book he inspired. That knowledge is secondhand.

This authority is necessary because you won’t always have the Bible handy to point to someone with authority’s retelling. Instead you can simply testify to what you truely know. That is the kind of authority that is lacking in my life, and I believe it is lacking in churches across the country.

Sturdy foundations

The Holy Scriptures, the Word, are a foundation made of Christ, or the Gospel, and are at least partially for that purpose. If you try to filter all of your building experience by the true foundation, you will have a sound house. A foundation is a hybrid of physical structure and territory. If you build within/upon a foundation, you will build correctly. If you build outside the foundation, you will build in vain for it will never last.

If you live on the foundation only, you will not wash away, but you will not have a house either. We are to live from the foundation toward our destiny. Which is heavenward. If you limit yourself to just knowing scripture and that is as far as your experience goes, you have no house. The Bible is meant as a starting point for knowing God and a reference for filtering your experiences outside of it.

Mature believers know God through leaving the foundation by building toward Heaven experiences in His presence and by seeing God. We are to build upon the Scriptures what God has revealed to His bride over the centuries, not throw out manifold wisdom because “it is now our turn.”

The fire of the Spirit continually tests the material which we all build with. When it lasts, we should take it from predecessors and use it to add to our building. That is generational blessings. Build for the advantage of those that follow.

Anyone who preaches just from Scripture and not from what they have seen are scribes and not prophets. Scribes are useful for reminding of what and where the foundation is for building. Prophets are useful for letting you know what to build with next. What you are capable of building in the future. They offer insight into projects and additions that no one has seen before, more beauty and usefulness than has previously existed.

**Special note: Even though prophets have authority by hearing from the Lord, it does not mean that you should assimilate to your life everything that they say without filtering it throught the Scriptures.

Philippians Chapter 4

This is a continuation of my reading of Philippians.

4:2-3    Unity starts with everyone; not just the two arguing, but everyone around them who can act as kindling or flame retardant.

4:6    Requests in prayer need to be accompanied with thanks.

4:13    We can focus because of the strength that is given us. If we had to think and worry about the strength that we need to accomplish what we are called to, we would be overwhelmed and ineffective.

4:19    We can focus because we are well funded. All of the resources in the universe are at our disposal.

Philippians Chapter 3

This is a continuation of my reading of Philippians.

3:5-7    God changed up the rules on everyone through Jesus.  It is his credentials we must show.  We can focus because we can look at life through Jesus accomplishments, which are so laser-like, versus ours which are so scattered.  We don’t have to rely on what we have done/can do to achieve righteousness. 

3:11    We are able to focus because we have a clear end-goal:  to rise from the dead in the likeness of Jesus.

3:12-14    We are able to focus because we are called past confusion and all of the people around us.  It is not like we can only see the goal; we are invited to it and told that is where we are going to end up.  What God says happens.  Period.

3:21    We are able to focus because we have new and better equipment.

Philippians Chapter 2

This is a continuation of my reading through Philippians.

2:1-2    We, as the Church, are called to look past what makes us different and look, instead, toward where we are called.  This would be a great place to use the illustration about pushing your own hand vs. pushing forward.  Address public opinion and church/denom. Differences in Anderson/schools and what would be possible if we all just agreed to love God and love people and stop worrying about the small stuff that makes us different.

2:3-4    Us vs. Them.  How much do we care about others?  How much time do we spend on ourselves (twitter, mySpace, Facebook, mirror time, shopping, blogging, virb page, ipod, in conversation or in dating) vs. how much of the time doing the same activities do we intentionally focus on others?  What is the motive behind what you do everyday?

2:5    This points us to the last supper and what followed.  Your truest attitude emerges when you are tested to your absolute limits.

2:6-7    Jesus went from the highest position in the universe: ruler/creator, to the lowest.  Not just a baby.  A baby born into captivity under Roman authority, as a slave to an empire, and grew up in Nazareth, the least respected region of Palestine, the son of a tradesman, who was not a land owner or a rabbi or aristocrat or tax collector, no Roman citizenship, no wife, no home, the worst set of disciples and no social respect from “above.”

2:12-13    God cares about our whole week/life, not just our Sundays.  We must live with integrity.  How do I live up to the salvation at work within me?  What do the results look like?  How does reverence/fear make us more focused?  When I understand God’s power in my life as being for his kingdom, when I line up with that, it is like looking through an intense lens that can bring the rest of the world into clarity.  If I line up at any angle other than right behind his movement, my view of the world will be skewed.

2:14    Focusing on yourself wastes everybody’s time.  If you can get along with others, everyone gets somewhere.

2:21    Do we care about what matters to Jesus Christ?

Philippians Chapter 1

In the same way that I read through Daniel, I am reading through Philippians. There is some amazing stuff in there from Paul.

1:4    Partnership in the Gospel – Paul couldn’t do it alone, neither can Brad.

1:6    Finish what God started. Don’t freak out about friends who walk away from God. Love them back to him, don’t guilt them away from you.

1:9-11    What we need/how we need to grow to be successful

1:12-14    Do my actions/consequences of my actions embolden my brothers in Christ to be fearless in advancing the Gospel?

1:20    How bad do I want Christ to be honored? We cannot be ashamed of the Gospel. That would be like being ashamed of the Navy SEALS for rescuing you, because it might offend the terrorists and they won’t treat you the same anymore.

1:27    Live a life worthy of the Gospel. We can’t live like it is a burden, but like the privilege that it is. Like 1 Peter 1:15-16, we must live up to the standard of the Gospel, not live frivolously like it holds us back.

Camping cont’d

So, it was a little later than Friday.

Camping was awesome.  I took three guys to Brasstown Falls, like I had planned.  It was amazing.  I really pushed them to do stuff they had never done.  Like build a fire.  We went hiking at dusk, so we had to rely on flashlights as we traversed roots and rocks to get down to the lower falls.  It became pretty perilous for the guys who went swimming as their world was much slipperier after the dip.  We talked about what they wanted to do or change to be more like Jesus and some other personal matters.  It was pretty revealing.  It was much colder than expected that night and we accidentally left one of the windows in the tent open, so the air just streamed in on us.  I don’t think the bags were rated appropriately for the conditions.  Either way, we made it through the night and woke up to powdered donuts and blueberry muffins.  I had the guys restoke the fire and taught them how to do that effectively.  Then I had them read 2 Peter 1 and write down at least 5 things that stood out to them.  We talked about what God had showed us and how we needed to respond.  That is probably one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  After that, we hiked some more and free-climbed right next to a 40 foot waterfall.  It was pretty spectacular.  The guys who took a dip the night before decided to do it again, so the other fellow and I cleaned up the camp site and prepared to leave.  The ride home was crazy as we plugged in an iPod touch to the stereo and blasted the music, singing as loud as we could.  Journey’s “Don’t stop believeing” never sounded so good.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to invest in some guys who will one day be great leaders of their peers.  I need to make a bigger priority of doing that kind of thing.  And do it regularly.